Give Your Family Memories to Keep

The source for the word “family” comes from a Latin word, familia, meaning household. Family also encompasses a number of other definitions including those who share a common ancestry (clan) or a group of people united by common beliefs or affiliation (fellowship, association). For me, and I suspect for each of you, each of these definitions has significance.

Regardless of where we are now, we all had a family that made us what and who we are today. Our values

‘Last Jury Trial’ funny, But Truth of It Is Not

ABA Model Rule on Conditional Admission to Practice Law

Childers Helps Bring Change

“I got started because of the death by suicide of a well-known Memphis lawyer who was a friend of mine,” Judge Robert “Butch” Childers says of his involvement with programs to help lawyers with alcohol and substance-abuse issues. “I decided it was time to find a way to help my friends and colleagues who were struggling from the stress of law practice.  I did not like standing by and watching people hurt,

Reinstated

The Putnam County Bar Association recently recognized Cookeville attorney Ben Fann for his contributions to his country and community. In 1942, Fann began serving in the Army Air Corps and was active during World War II. He served with distinction in the China-Burma-India Theater, where he participated in dangerous missions flying military supplies for troops in unarmed cargo planes over the Himalayas. Fann has been a member of Cookeville’s legal community since 1975 and continues to serve tod

Closing Argument: Ray Jenkins Defending June Newberry

In Lenoir City on Nov. 6, 1961, June Newberry shot Ann Gowder in the left temple as the latter arrived for work. Why? Because Ann had stolen June’s husband Raymond and taunted her about the theft.

It would be a hard case to defend. The state sought the death penalty. June’s lead Loudon County counsel sought assistance from legendary Ray Jenkins, the “Terror of Tellico Plains.”

The trial covered three days in 1962, Wednesday-Friday, Jan.

Value Definition Clauses, Part 4: Tax Court in ‘Christiansen’ Unanimously Rejects IRS Public Policy Arguments

Readers of this column know that I am bullish on the use of “value definition clauses” (VDCs).[1] My two-part columns in March and April 2001 described the what, why and how. I cited the pending McCord [2]
case as an important test of VDC viability, and concluded with “Keep your eye on McCord.” My column in December 2006 reported on the taxpayer victory in McCord, but wished th...
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Children of Divorce: A Practical Guide for Parents, Therapists, Attorneys and Judges Second Edition

By William Bernet M. D. and Hon. Don R. Ash | Kriegr Publishing Company | $31.50 | 196 pages | 2007

The second edition of Dr. William Bernet’s admirable first edition in 1995 has been solidified as a predivorce must-read. It is not only for the parents considering divorce, but now also for the attorneys,
therapist and counselors advising them, and the judges ruling on their cases, by the legal and

The Second Battle of Lookout Mountain

My wife, Claudia, is from South Pittsburg. Not Pennsylvania. Tennessee. She is a seventh generation Tennessean. Her favorite song is “The Tennessee Waltz,” she knows all the words to “Rocky Top,” and she looks fabulous in orange.

No doubt about it, Claudia is a peach. But she ain’t no Georgia peach no matter what a bunch of pointy-headed, bulldawg-loving Georgia legislators say.

Well, keep your powder dry, my fellow Volunteers. We may soon be fighti